This invention relates to a gravity engine of the type wherein bodies, such as spheroids, are accelerated upwardly against the force of gravity by expansion of a gas to a height where the spheroids are collected in a stack within a laterally-spaced vertical passageway having at its lower end a thrustor driven by the spheroids moving under the force of gravity. More particularly, the present invention relates to such a gravity engine wherein a heated gas is introduced into an expander by a valve means which is controlled as a timed function of the rotation of the thrustor by the spheroids.
As is known, systems have been proposed in the past to convert one type of energy into another type by using various thermodynamic cycles, such as Otto, Rankine and Brayton cycles. Most of these systems employ reciprocating pistons; although some, such as those shown in Dutch Pat. No. 65,164 and German Pat. No. 842,645, employ one or more pistons which are forced to travel in one direction in a continuous closed loop by the expansion of a gaseous medium in one region of the closed loop. In the closed-loop system of the prior art, each piston is coupled to a mechanical element which moves with it, the kinetic energy of the moving piston being converted directly into mechanical energy. Such closed-loop systems, while possibly workable, require complicatd mechanisms for coupling the piston or pistons to an associated mechanical element; and this may account for the reason that these systems have not found extensive commerical acceptance.
In U.S. Pat. No. 3,859,789, there is disclosed a method and apparatus for converting one form of energy into another form of energy through the use of a closed, continuous loop passageway containing a plurality of freely-movable, mechanically-unrestrained bodies which travel around the passageway in one direction only. Acceleration of the bodies may be effected by means of an expanding fluid medium supplied externally to the closed-loop passageway or by way of internal combustion. The kinetic energy of the bodies is extracted by a variety of methods including causing the propelled bodies, when formed from mechanically-permeable materil, to pass through an electromagnetic field to convert some of the kinetic energy to electrical energy. Kinetic energy is also extracted by compressing the fluid between the bodies to provide energy in the form of compressed fluid. When expansion of a gas is used to propel the bodies of this type of energy converter, the bodies pass through a region where the gas between them is compressed preparatory to a succeeding cycle of operation. The average gas pressure in the closed-loop passageway is relatively high. In the gravity engine of the present invention, the bodies, which may be spheroids, are not generally decelerated by the compression of a gas between the bodies.